Christmas Joy Exchange

A while back I took part in a "Christmas Joy" exchange through the "Stitch, Create, Exchange" blog. I started a design for this back in September but realised I'd soon run out of the silk thread I was using. I ordered more from the USA late October, and it was shipped early November. I hoped I'd get it in time to finish the project but that soon became evident it wasn't going to happen as the deadline to mail was December 1st and I had to mail to Hungary.

As the guidelines indicated I had to stitch something of a fairly decent size I was worried about starting something new with not much time left. I took a look through some old finishes and came across something that would do. I finished into a large ornament and managed to mail it at the last possible minute.

Here's what I ended up sending to Barbara in Hungary - not my best finishing as I didn't have much in the way of excess fabric around the edges.

This was a secret exchange so the person who sent to me was not the person I sent to. This is what my partner Lisa in Australia sent to me.

Oh, and it was a good thing I didn't wait for the silk to arrive - it came on January 3rd, 2 months after it was sent. Here's a pic of my WIP on the original piece. I planned on adding the word "Joy" in silver inside the Christmas tree to go with the theme, and making the bow which goes at the top in silver too.

A WIP Wednesday pic or two

So much for posting a WIP pic every Wednesday - that plan didn't last long! However, I have a couple of pics to show today although there doesn't seem to be a lot of progress since the last time I posted. The first is my hibiscus design which is on the home stretch:

This one is a quilt square I designed. I thought I had ages until I re-read the guidelines and found th deadline to be October 1st. It has since been put back but I still plan on getting mine done ASAP and in the mail to the USA.

Some WIP pics and why you should never start a project when you are sick

I haven't been stitching a lot lately, mainly just once a week at karate. I have been going between two projects, my hibiscus flowers and a quilt square for a fellow 123 stitch message board member. Here's where I'm at with the flowers:

Here's my WIP pic, and the pattern I designed for the quilt square:

On another note, I have been sick for weeks. Firstly with just a cold but a cold that wouldn't quit. Then as I was getting over that I caught the flu and am still dealing with a lingering cough. At the tail end of the flu I was getting a bit on edge and felt the need to stitch something mindless and easy. I'm sure it was my mood and my need to stitch NOW, but I just couldn't find a pattern I liked that I had saved or in my stash. I jumped online and searched for monochrome designs and was drawn to a free salamander pattern. Why? Who knows - I've never been interested in them before. I chose a variegated orange floss I'd bought recently and a similar orange fabric and off I went. The problem was the mix of the variation and the type of design just meant it didn't quite work, and parts of the thread blended into the fabric a little too much. I kept persevering, in the hope that it would magically look better the more I stitched. It didn't. In the end I gave up and decided stitching when sick and stir-crazy is not a good combination. Or at best have on hand a simple pattern already kitted up - when I'm in my right mind and not semi-delirious. Lesson learned!

I have still been crafting!

But I don't have much to show for it. The first thing I have been working on is an exchange piece for the "Birds, Bees and Butterflies" exchange I joined a while back. The international mailing date has been and gone, but domestic items need to be mailed by tomorrow so I can't post a pic yet, nor tell you much about it for fear of blowing my cover - it's a secret exchange.

The next thing is the hibiscus flower cross stitch, I have been working on it here and there between other things but don't have much progress to show. It will be put on the back-burner for a while as I have one last hand towel I need to finish - um, and start! - and have committed to a quilt square for a woman on the 123 message board  who sadly lost her husband to Creutzfeldt Jakob disease within 2 months of his first symptoms. He was only 40-ish. So very sad and heartbreaking - especially as he had 2 children. (who are similar ages to mine)

I've also started a new mini project today that will double as my free choice design on the Christmas-all-year-long blog, as well as it being the selected design to stitch for the monthly freebie challenge over on the 123 message board. I figure it's only a quickie - I might even finish it today - and there's not much of July left to complete it. It is "Cozy Christmas Wishes" from Lizzie Kate. Not usually a designer I choose to stitch, but this one I don't mind.

I've also been sequining a leotard for calisthenics. This one is a design I came up with last year and Robin, our trusty seamstress, whipped up a set of them which I sequined. A new one was required this year, so I'm finishing that off too. Here it is:

So you see I have still been crafting - bear with me and I'll post pics when I can.

One down, 3 more to go

Here's my "Hibiscus" project, a little blurry, but blurry is my specialty. It's 10 days in, but I might put it aside for an exchange piece I need to start work on.

5 days of stitching

10 days stitching

A WIP pic

Here's what 5 days of stitching looks like on "Hibiscus":

My latest WIP

As promised, here's the project I'm working on now. It's a freebie from here:

WIP Wednesday 6/2/2013

Here's a progress pic of "Refle-egg-tions" that I started a few days ago. I think I like the way the multi-coloured thread is working out but I'm not certain.

Oops, I just noticed I didn't finish the bottom part of the second egg. Sometimes you just have to look from a different perspective before things jump out and smack you upside the head.

WIP Wednesday 9/1/2013

Yeah, yeah, I know it's Thursday but I think it's best I post first thing Thursday instead of last thing Wednesday as I've generally stayed up late stitching and the last thing I want to do is head to the scanner or camera and post to my blog before I hit the sack. Therefore WIP Wednesdays will now be posted on Thursdays. Makes sense to me!
Anyway, just to see my progress, here's where I was at on Friday 28/12/2012. Taken with my scanner:

Then a bit less than a week later on Wednesday 5/1/2013. Another scanner pic.:

And here we are on Wednesday 12/1/2013 - this one is a picture from my camera:

I'm hoping to be done and dusted before another Wednesday/Thursday rolls around.

My Latest WIP

Here is a progress picture of "Keep friends close at Christmas" by Imaginating. I won't be stitching the wording as it won't fit within the snowflake framed fabric.

WIP as of 28/12/12

What it should look like finished, minus the wording

It's so much more vibrant in the latter pic, although I'm using the called for threads. I hope the pic wasn't photoshoppped  to look so bright and glossy. Maybe mine will pop when backstitched? I hope so!

Some Stitchy Bits & Pieces

Here's a progress pic of "Sweety", which I started on the 3rd of October 2012. It's working up quite quickly. I'm toying with the idea of stitching "Kim's Kitchen" under it, framing it in a white frame and hanging it in my kitchen.

On another stitching note, I took advantage of a sunny dyes fabric sale at youthful hands needle crafts  recently. I got the following fabrics, including this cute winter print. I can just see a snowman or two on it.

Some WIP Pics

Started on Feb 18th

I know I've shown a few small finishes lately, but my larger WIPs have not been totally neglected. I am working on the "L" for my

Started on Oct 9th 

mum - hopefully, maybe,
probably not for Mother's
day in about a month. The
"Hot Sunny Days" one is
for me, it reminds me of our
cruise around the Sth Pacific.

Time For A Stitchy Post

It seems ages since I've posted anything cross stitch related, so here's a WIP pic of my current project. This is what I've done since Feb 18th.

And this is what it will eventually look like. I am thinking of getting a plain wooden frame and have it jut right up to the stitching. Then I can see about painting the frame so it looks like the sky, sand, sea and table are extending out past the picture. I can even glue some small shells on the sand too. It looks great in my head!

A new WIP

I needed a little break from all that green on green for the letter L project, so I've started another design. This one is a summery scene that reminds me of our recent cruise around the South Pacific. So far I have only done 20 rows of one shade of blue, so not much variation from green on green! I started it on February 18th. Here's what it will look like, eventually:

L for Lorraine

This is a project for my mum for Christmas. It is for her bedroom, which is a bright lime/apple green. I was originally going to stitch the design in 2 shades of green on white fabric but then I remembered a grab bag of fabric I bought from Stitches & Spice at a local craft fair. In it were 4 pieces of bright fabric - blue, pink, orange and green. The green looked to be just the right colour, and is just big enough, so I decided to stitch it on this - with the L in white and the background design in a slightly darker shade of green.

So far I have just finished the L and only had to frog it once, I'm improving!!

Can't think of a title :-)

Ok, let's see what's been happening since the last blog post.....

I am another year older :-(. I did have a great birthday with great gifts, food and cake though, so adding another year onto my age was kind of worth it.

DS #1 has had mid year exams. He's only gotten a few results so far, but they have been good, ranging from 73 to 96%.

Ds #2 had the Karate Victoria presentation dinner, where the state team was announced. He has made the team for both kata and kumite (sparring) which he is pleased about. There were several awards given out to the older athletes and our club was well represented. DS has also had a couple more tournaments. At the first one he tried a new kata that he's learning and lost his round as it wasn't quite polished enough. However, he still managed a 3rd place trophy. He also took home another 3rd place for kumite after losing to the current Victorian champion. At the next tournament his new kata was more polished and he won all 3 rounds to take home the winners trophy. He came up against a fellow state team member in kumite and lost out in the first round.

There's not much to report on the stitching front. I've always known I'm a slow stitcher, but I think it's now official. Where are the "Guiness Book of World Records" people when you need them? I am taking soooo loooong on my current 2 colour, "simple" project that it's no longer funny. I'm not too embarrassed to admit I've also had to frog it at least twice. Uh Oh!! It seems the only time I get to stitch lately is at karate, thankfully DS have a few classes a week or else it would become a UFO.

An Easter finish - in January!

The first of my trio of Easter designs, started and finished in one day. I may have to add a few more small hearts along the top to fill the opening as I'm a little off centre, but I'll leave that until later. Here it is:

And here's how it fits into the rest of the design. Don't mind the ugly black griding lines, I just needed an idea of where each design has to go:

• Name of the design is Easter joy
• Chart is an old members freebie from San Man Originals that I adapted slightly to fit.
• Fabric is a hand dyed 28 count Jobelan evenweave called "Pot Pourri" from Polstitches Designs in the UK.
• Thread is DMC cotton.
• Stitch count is 38 x 37.
• Completed on January 8th 2011.  Started on January 8th too.  This will be a framed design for Easter.

A new non-cupcake project

So I've decided I like the house decorated for Christmas & thought I may have to decorate for Easter too. Yesterday, while going through my file of freebie cross stitch patterns, I came across these cute San Man Originals designs. I do love this style of pattern, although I've never done one. Not sure what that means, but anyway.... I printed them out & put them aside for later.

Fast forward a few hours and I was shopping. I came across 2 hot pink photo frames and had to buy them for "something". Wasn't quite sure what, but hey, they were cheap! And hot pink! Got home and started thinking about the Easter designs and how I was going to finish them. Thought about the frames and decided to see if they'd fit. What do you know? The one with 3 apertures will fit the designs, with a little bit of tweaking!

Then I recalled a pretty fabric I had, that I just hadn't found the right project for. I pulled it out and it will work nicely. It's a hand dyed fabric called "Pot Pourri" from Polstitches Designs in the UK. It's 28 count Jobelan evenweave and is *just* the right size.

Just because I'm a geek, I put together a mock-up of how the finished project may look, minus the fabric background. I hope it fits just right and doesn't become a logistical nightmare. Time will tell I guess!